Friday, October 9, 2015

I just completely reworked the VHF-UHF antennas here at the Palm HQ. Everything came down, I installed a new rotor, and then put up new antennas on 50, 144, 222, and 432 MHz. For 50 MHz I have a Cushcraft A50-5S five-element beam. 144 MHz is covered by a Cushcraft A148-10S 10-element yagi. I built an N6NB 8-element quagi for 222 MHz. And 432 MHz sports a 22-element K1FO yagi.

These antennas aren't up very high off the ground, but our QTH is at about 1250 feet above sea level and has a commanding view in all directions.

Everything performed very well in the September ARRL VHF Contest. I have lots of plans to upgrade on all those lower bands, plus push up to 902 and 1296 MHz. But for now it's simply nice to be back in business for basic VHF and UHF weak signal work.